Chapter Fourteen

1–31. The continuation of Christ’s farewell discourse with the disciples: about Christ’s departure to the Father, about faith and love, prayer, the Holy Spirit, and peace.

Chapter 14 contains the first comforting speech (John 13:31-38 represents, properly speaking, an introduction to it). In this discourse, Christ strengthens the wavering courage of the disciples, promising them a place in the mansions of his Father, where they will again be with Christ. In this connection, the Lord resolves certain misunderstandings expressed to him by the apostles Thomas and Philip (verses 1–11). Then, to comfort the disciples, he promises them to beseech the Father to send to the disciples the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and at the same time speaks of how he himself will return to the disciples, clarifying the misunderstanding of the apostle Judas, son of James. Finally, he assures the disciples that the Holy Spirit will explain to them all that is now unclear to them and causes them confusion (verses 12–31).

John 14:1. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. The apostles were extremely troubled by the brief conversation of the Lord with Peter (John 13:36-38). “If even Peter will deny,” they thought in fear, “what awaits us?” (St. John Chrysostom). Furthermore, as is evident from the Gospel of Luke, the Lord spoke to all of them somewhat unclear words about some struggle awaiting them (Luke 22:35-37). Therefore, the Lord begins his discourse in a comforting tone: “do not let your hearts be troubled...” As before, they, the apostles, should believe in God and, believing in God, believe in the one whom God has sent, that is, in Christ. Since childhood, the apostles, as Jews, have had faith in God instilled in them, and this faith should serve as a point of support for their faith in Christ, now somewhat shaken by his last words about his departure. Through such a “double” faith the apostles will overcome their fear of the coming decisive events.

John 14:2. “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:3. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. Continuing to comfort the apostles like children sorrowful at separation from a beloved father, Christ reveals to them that he will soon see them again. Now he goes to prepare for them a place in his Father’s house. “In my Father’s house.” The kingdom of heaven, which Christ here calls his Father’s house, is depicted as a spacious royal palace, in which an eastern monarch lives with his numerous sons, with each of the sons having a separate dwelling place for himself. “If it were not so, would I have told you.” According to the Russian Synodal edition, through the placing of a colon at the end of this phrase, the following words do not retain any independent significance, constituting only the end of the preceding phrase. With such a reading, however, the expression of verse 3 becomes completely unclear: “and if I go.” After all, according to the Synodal reading, the Lord did not tell the disciples that he would go, but “would have told,” if there were no dwellings for the disciples. On the contrary, if one places a period after the words “told you” (as is done in the Slavonic text), then the meaning of the opening words of verse 3 becomes completely clear and the connection of verse 3 with verse 2 becomes quite natural. With such a reading, the following thought emerges: “If it were not so, that is, if there truly were no dwellings in heaven, then I, for whom all heavenly things are well known (John 3:11-13), would have told you of this and would not have deluded you with impossible dreams. But these dwellings undoubtedly exist, and I even go to heaven so that I might choose the best ones for you.” “I go to prepare a place for you.” The Lord, as the apostle Paul expresses it, appeared as our forerunner in heaven (Heb 6:20), opened for us the way into the kingdom of heaven. “I will come again.” What coming of Christ is being spoken of here? The final one, which will take place before the end of the world, or the coming that is mysterious, spiritual, in the Holy Spirit? It seems that here one cannot understand either of these. The Lord could not be speaking here of coming for judgment because this coming, as Christ himself knew, was extraordinarily far off, and besides, the apostles would hardly have been comforted by the thought of a meeting with the Lord in the distant future after they would rise from the dead; at least, the thought that Martha would see her brother “after” the resurrection of the dead did not have a comforting effect on her (John 11:24-25). Nor can one understand here the coming of the Lord in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, because the Lord had not yet informed the apostles of the sending of the Comforter. How could it have comforted them to learn of something they could not yet even understand? It is more probable that the Lord is speaking here of his resurrection, after which he will come to the disciples again: the Lord had spoken to the disciples before about his resurrection (Matt 17:9; Mark 9:9 and others). But with such an understanding, the following expression remains unclear: “and I will take you to myself...” After the resurrection, the disciples were not immediately taken to Christ. Therefore, it is more correct to suppose that the Lord is speaking here not of his coming to the disciples only at the time of his resurrection, but in general of the fact that he will appear to the disciples at the moment of their death and will take their souls into eternal rest. Therefore, the holy Stephen, dying, said: “Lord Jesus! receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59; cf. 2 Cor 5:8; 1 Thess 4:17).

John 14:4. “And you know the way to the place where I am going. According to some manuscripts, this verse reads as follows: “And where I am going – the way to that place you know” (Loisy). The Lord by these words reminds the disciples of his previous speeches about the path to heavenly glory (John 12:23 and others), which passes precisely through the path of suffering.

John 14:5. “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ The apostle Thomas, representing the type of a man of reasoning and slow in faith, desiring to have precise information about everything, in this case also wishes to know thoroughly, first, where Christ is leading, and second, the path by which Christ will go. In saying “we do not know,” Thomas apparently expresses the desire of all the apostles, not just his own. The apostles apparently still had not divested themselves of the thought that the Lord was speaking of some journey to another country.

John 14:6. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John 14:7. “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. In answer to the question of Thomas, Christ does not answer directly. He only uses this question as an opportunity to remind the apostles of the teaching about his mission (and he had spoken much above on the question raised by Thomas), Christ – himself is the way to truth and life, or in other words, to God the Father. Some interpreters, for example, Silchenkov, consider the expressions “truth” and “life” as epithets which Christ applies to himself: “Christ is truth itself – outside of him all is falsehood. He is life itself – outside of him there is no life.” But such an interpretation contradicts the further words of Christ: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Why would Christ have spoken to the apostles about going to the Father as something necessary for them if in Christ they had everything and did not need the Father? No, Christ speaks of the Father as the true goal of all human aspirations. People strive for eternal glory in which the Father dwells, and Christ – is the way leading to this high goal. “If you had known me...” If the apostles had known Christ in his true relation to the Father, with whom he is in the closest unity of essence, they would also have known the Father. It is clear that the Lord recognizes for the apostles the possibility of such knowledge and thereby considers the argument expressed by Thomas (“we do not know... how can we know...”) to be completely unfounded: no, they could know! “And from now on you do know him...” But having expressed some rebuke to the apostles, the Lord immediately comforts them. Even if they do not have complete knowledge of Christ, even if they love him more as Teacher-Messiah, nevertheless such knowledge is something positive, and it will lead them to complete knowledge, the foundation for which has already been laid (this is indicated by the expression “from now on”). Some (for example, Holtzmann) see in the last words of Christ only “an optimistic supposition, not corresponding to reality”: the apostles allegedly did not actually have such knowledge and did not see in Christ the Son of God, and consequently, did not know the Father either... But such an opinion cannot be accepted in view of the fact that later the Lord directly says that he “revealed” the name of the Father to the apostles (John 17:6), and this revelation had begun long ago.

John 14:8. “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ The apostle Philip was a rather indecisive man and inclined to be guided by the opinions of others (John 6:7). He seemed to be constantly seeking support from without. This characteristic of his nature can explain the fact that he asks Christ to “show” him and the other apostles “the Father,” that is, to grant such a theophany as, for example, Moses received on the mountain (Exod 33:18). Then they will be completely calm about the fate of Christ.

John 14:9. “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?’ With a feeling of sorrow the Lord instructs his disciple. Whoever in spirit contemplates the Father in the Son, for him any external theophany is useless (cf. John 1:18). If Philip had known Jesus, he would have understood that to see him – is all the same as to see the Father.

John 14:10. “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father dwelling in me does his works. Christ, in saying that whoever has seen him has seen the Father, understood by seeing faith. “To see” the Father in Christ – is all the same as “to believe” that the Son abides in the Father, acts in his name, and that the Father in the most real way abides in the Son, imparting to him his power. Thus the Father is seen only by faith; no mortal can see God in the usual way. Only the one and only Son of God has told us of the Father (John 1:18). Therefore the question of the Lord to Philip (“do you not believe?”) contains a call to faith. And the Lord bases this call on the same thing that he had pointed out before to the Jews (John 5:19), namely, that his teaching and deeds – all come from the Father; behind him in all his activity stands the invisible Father (John 7:17). “My works,” that is, all the miracles which I perform.

John 14:11. “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not believe me, believe because of the works themselves. Christ now calls all the disciples – no longer just Philip – to faith in the reality of such a relation of Christ to the Father. “If you do not believe me,” that is, if you consider my teaching insufficient, then believe my miracles, which testify to my abiding in the Father. The Lord thus recognizes the necessity of miracles given a certain weakness of faith of those listening to his teaching, but this is of course necessary only in the first stage of the existence of the Church; then such assurances will not be required.

John 14:12. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Now returning to his task – to comfort and encourage the apostles remaining in a strange and hostile world – the Lord as the first comfort (verses 12–14) presents for them the fact that they will continue his work and in this will accompany their preaching with miracles even greater than those which Christ performed. This of course designates, not that the apostles will have more miraculous power than Christ has, but points to the result of the signs which they will perform. Because of special new conditions of the time, conditions which did not exist in the days of Christ, their preaching and miracles will have extraordinary success. Even if these will be miracles accomplished not in the sphere of visibility, but in the hidden depths of the human spirit, in any case, they will be accompanied by extraordinarily great consequences. In order to perform such miracles, two conditions are necessary: 1) the apostles must firmly believe in Christ (“whoever believes in me”) and 2) Christ must now go to his Father so that he might send from the Father an abundance of miraculous powers (“because I am going to the Father”).

John 14:13. “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. However, the apostles will perform miraculous deeds only when they make requests to God in the name of Christ. But what does “in my name” mean? Some consider this expression equivalent to the expression of the apostle Paul “in Christ,” seeing in this the designation of the disposition in which the one praying finds himself (Luthardt), others see here simply an indication of the belonging of the one praying to the church of Christ (P. Khrist). More probable is the interpretation that exists still in St. John Chrysostom and the blessed Theophylact and is accepted by some modern interpreters. This interpretation, basing itself on the chief significance which this expression has in the New Testament and in the Septuagint, understands it in the sense of “in the use of” or “in the invocation of the name of Christ” (Heitmüller). Such an understanding is forced by the connection which undoubtedly exists between verses 12 and 13: in verse 12 the subject is the miracles which the apostles will perform, and here is indicated how they will perform these miracles. Indeed, we see that the apostles, in performing miracles, invoked the name of Jesus (Acts 3:6). It is understandable in this context that prayer, consisting in the invocation of the name of Jesus, must always be in agreement with his will (1 John 5:14). “I will do it.” The executor of the request is not the Father, but Christ. In speaking thus, Christ expresses the consciousness of his closest unity with God by essence – a consciousness that pervaded all the speeches of Christ. From this it follows that the Christian in his prayers has the same feeling, with identical significance, toward the Father and toward Christ.

John 14:14. “If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it. The thought expressed in the preceding verse, in view of its special importance for the apostles, in view of its special comforting significance, Christ repeats, as if firmly establishing it in the consciousness of the disciples.

John 14:15. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. The second comfort (verses 15–17) consists in the promise of the Comforter. Christ prefaces this comfort with an exhortation to observe his commandments (cf. verses 21, 23, 24). This is necessary as a condition on the part of the apostles so that they may be worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit. One can also suppose that the Lord is speaking here, as before (verses 13–14), as a King founding his kingdom, the laws of which must be fulfilled by his subjects.

John 14:16. And I will beseech the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, John 14:17. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not and knows Him not; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. When the apostles fulfill their duty, then Christ also (“and I”) will fulfill His work in relation to them. He will beseech the Father, and the Father will send them another Comforter, that He may remain with them forever. “Comforter” – in Greek, Paraclete (παράκλητος). Originally this word denoted a man called to help, a defender (but not in the sense of an ordinary lawyer, but in the sense of a friend who goes to entreat a judge on behalf of his friend accused of some crime). But then, especially among the Jews, to whom this word passed from Greek in the form “Paraclete,” it came to denote a comforter, a counselor, instructing a man in difficulty how best to extricate himself from that position. The Fathers and teachers of the Eastern Church give this very meaning of “comforter” to this term. Until now such a counselor and friend of the disciples was Christ Himself, although in the Gospel He is not called Comforter. But now in place of Christ, who is leaving the apostles, there will come to them another Comforter, or counselor, friend. From the comparison here of Christ and another Comforter, both the ancient Fathers and most modern commentators (Kestlin, Hofmann, Weiss, and others) conclude that this contains the teaching about the Holy Spirit as an independent person. Other commentators (de Wette, Schenkel) are troubled, however, by the circumstance that in chapters 15–16 the return of Christ is depicted as coinciding with the coming of the Spirit-Comforter. But this trouble is unfounded, because a similar relation exists between the Father and the Logos: the Father dwells in the Son, and the Son reveals the will of the Father, which does not prevent all commentators from recognizing the Son as a separate person. So also Christ will act through the Spirit-Comforter, will come in Him to the apostles. Apostle Paul therefore considers it possible to identify the dwelling in believers of the Spirit of God with the dwelling of Christ Himself Rom 8:9-10. “Spirit of truth.” Some (for example, Schantz) see in this only an indication of the activity of the Spirit in relation to the apostles, whom He will teach all truth. But here rather the very nature of the Spirit is defined: He is truth itself, being one in essence with the Father and the Son. However, in calling the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, and Himself directly truth (verse 6), the Lord wishes to say that this Spirit is His Spirit (St. Cyril of Alexandria). Explaining the meaning of the Spirit of truth, the Lord adds that the world, abiding in unbelief and delusion, cannot receive Him either through the senses (“sees Him not”) or through inner illumination (“knows Him not”). On the contrary, the apostles, having correct Christian understanding (“know”), already know the Spirit, who dwells with them now. “And in you shall be” – according to the opinion of some authoritative critics (Holtzmann), instead of ἔσται (“shall be”), one should read ἐστίν (“and in you is”). Thus, according to this reading, the Lord speaks with particular force (and for this reason two synonymous verbs “to dwell” and “to exist” are used) that this Spirit is already in the disciples. But with such a reading it seems somewhat redundant to send the Spirit to the apostles in the future time, after Christ’s removal from them. Moreover, in the Greek text employed here, the conjunctions also provide reason to suppose a difference between the verbs used here. Namely, with the verb “dwells” (μένει) stands the pronoun with the preposition παρά – “with,” and with the verb “shall be” – the pronoun with the preposition ἐν – “in.” From this it follows that of the two possible readings, it is better to accept that which exists in our text and in the 8th edition of Tischendorf, i.e. the reading “shall be” (ἔσται). The Lord, evidently, wished to say that the Spirit, which will be sent to the apostles, is partly already somewhat near them now by the fact, of course, that they stand close to Christ, in whom abundantly dwell the gifts of the Spirit John 3:34. But the Spirit dwells now only with the disciples, and with time He will dwell already in them as a life-giving and renewing power.

John 14:18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. From here begins the third consolation (verses 18–21), consisting in the promise of a meeting of Christ with the apostles. The Lord will leave His disciples orphans for only a short time; He will come to them – come, first of all, after His resurrection John 20:19, and then in those manifestations of the inner life of the apostles in which the apostles indeed saw before their spiritual eyes the Son of God (see Gal 2:20). Some (fathers of the Western Church and modern commentators, for example, Zahn) understand this place as a prophecy of Christ’s second coming to judge the world, but one cannot agree with such an interpretation, because at the second coming the Lord will come into the world generally, not only to His disciples. The explanation of Bishop Michael is more probable, that here the coming of Christ in the Holy Spirit is intended, but even this assumption is not quite appropriate, because with it the special character of the third consolation, distinguishing it from the second, is lost.

John 14:19. Yet a little while, and the world will see Me no more; but you will see Me, because I live, and you shall live. “The world,” that is, those who do not believe in Christ, will soon lose the possibility of seeing Christ, because the world looks only with physical eyes, and Christ will remove Himself from the realm of sensibly observable phenomena. On the contrary, believers, whose spiritual eyes are opened to the observation of suprasensible phenomena, will see Christ or will continue to see Him, despite the fact that He removes Himself from them. The reason for this lies in the fact that Christ, as truly living (ζῶ), lives continuously, eternally, and death cannot interrupt His life. Moreover, He also grants His disciples such life as is found in Him (καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε).

John 14:20. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. “In that day.” By this expression the Lord does not designate any one day, but all the time of the activity of the apostles under the new conditions in which they found themselves after the resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. One cannot see here, as Holtzmann does, an indication of the entire history of the existence of the Church of Christ until the end of the world, because with this the special relation of this consolation to the apostles is lost, and yet it was, primarily, with them in view, not with believers of all subsequent epochs. “You will know that I am in the Father...” Here experiential or experience-based knowledge is meant. The apostles will gain this knowledge from the appearances of Christ after the resurrection John 20:21; Acts 1:3, from the testimony or witness of the Angels, who appeared immediately after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and, finally, from the apostles’ own inner experience, who felt after Christ’s resurrection that there exists the closest communion between Christ and the Father and between them and Christ.

John 14:21. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him. Somewhat broadening here the circle of persons who might deserve, like the apostles, His manifestations, Christ says that to be worthy of such a manifestation, one must keep Christ’s commandments. In such keeping of the commandments, a man displays his love for Christ, and for this love he will be loved both by the Father and by Christ, who will manifest Himself to such a person. “Those who love sincerely cannot long remain without meeting” (Archbishop Innocent).

John 14:22. Judas – not Iscariot – said to Him: Lord! How is it that You will reveal Yourself to us, and not to the world? Here the Lord’s discourse is again interrupted. The apostle Judas, whom the evangelist distinguishes from the Judas Iscariot mentioned in John 13:30, does not understand why Christ wishes to appear only to the apostles. It is very likely that Judas saw in the preceding words of Christ an indication of His second coming, which the disciples expected in a short time, and therefore it seemed strange to him that Christ at this second coming, which He Himself depicted as a coming in glory Matt 25:31, would appear only to those who believe in Him. On the apostle Judas (the son of James) see the commentaries on Matt 10:3. Some (for example, Silchenkov) see here an indication not of the apostle, but of the Lord’s brother Judas (“Farewell Discourse,” p. 191), but one cannot agree with such an opinion, because in the entire discourse the Lord addresses only the apostles, whom He chose John 15:16, and the Lord’s brothers until His resurrection “believed not in Him” John 7:5.

John 14:23. Jesus answered and said to him: If any one loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. John 14:24. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. In answer to Judas the Lord says that the manifestation of Him and the Father is possible to receive only by one who loves Christ and keeps His word. Meanwhile, the world, of course, does not have such love – how then can the Lord appear to it? “We will come to him...” As travelers, the Father and the Son come down from heaven to find shelter under the roof of a man who loves Christ. The Lord borrows this image from those places of the Old Testament where the theocratic idea of God’s dwelling in His people was depicted in this very way Exod 25:8; Lev 26:11-12, Ezek 37:26-27. “He who does not love Me...” The thought expressed in the preceding verse affirmatively is here repeated negatively so as to define more precisely what Christ meant by “the world” in verse 22. The world – this is everything that does not love Christ and does not keep His words, or does not accept His teaching (cf. John 12:48). It is to be noted that in John, both in the Gospel and in the Epistles, all people are divided into only two classes: some love Christ and keep His commandments, others do not love and keep not His commandments. There is no middle ground between them, and so it must be, for Christ, in John’s conviction, is the true Light, the Sun, and one can either see the sun or not see it; there can be no middle relation to the sun! And of course, those who see are sighted, others – the blind – do not see. The unbelievers, thus, according to John, must be recognized as spiritually blind. When the Father and Son “come” to the unbeliever, Christ does not say. One may suppose that He had in mind the descent or coming in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come, and with this will begin the dwelling in those who received Him of both the Father and the Son.

John 14:25. This I have said to you, while still dwelling with you. John 14:26. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. In conclusion (verses 25–31) to the first discourse, the Lord first of all says that He Himself is ending the teaching of the apostles, because He considers His dwelling among them finished (“said” – past perfect tense). The further comforting and enlightenment of the apostles He entrusts to the Spirit-Comforter, whom the Father will send to them. “In My name” (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου). This expression here, as also in verse 13, is understood in different ways. Some say that the Lord speaks of the sending of the Spirit “to continue His work,” others translate “in My stead,” but most naturally one should retain for this expression the same meaning it has in verse 13, that is, He will send “at the invocation of My name.” “He will teach you all things.” The Lord distinguishes “this” and “all.” “This” He Himself spoke (verse 25); “all” the Spirit-Comforter will explain to them. Many things the Lord proposed to them in fragmentary form and not in sufficiently clear form (cf. John 2:22), and the Spirit will supplement the teaching of Christ and illuminate in it that which remained unclear to the disciples. However, this will not be a simple reminder and clarification only of what is already known to the disciples. No, the Spirit will arouse in the apostles a creative thought, which will express itself in various literary creations (the Gospels, the Epistles). Here one can also see the basis for the subsequent activity of the divinely inspired apostles in the realm of church governance. The Holy Spirit in all spheres of Christian thought and life will help the Church to go along the path that Christ Himself pointed out to it.

John 14:27. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, and let it not be afraid. It was not uncommon in the Old Testament for pious and even simply courteous people to address those with whom they parted with the words “go in peace” 1 Sam 1:17. Such a farewell was customary among the Jews in the time of Christ Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50; Jas 2:16. And the Lord, parting with His disciples, takes leave in the customary way. But He adds that in His mouth this greeting is not a mere wish, which often does not come to pass when uttered by ordinary people, but a real bestowal of peace, and such peace as reigned in His own soul (“My peace”). As He was the master of life and gave it to whom He would (cf. John 5:21), so He is also the master of peace, which He now provides to His apostles as the most necessary treasure for them. With this peace they will not be frightened in the world even after Christ’s removal.

John 14:28. You have heard that I said to you: I go from you, and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I said: I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. But all the disciples are sad. The Lord sees that they do not, as it were, even listen to Him, and therefore speaks half-questioningly: “you have heard...” that is, how is this? Have you not heard how I said that I will come to you again? Why then be downcast? “If you loved Me...” To encourage the disciples at the impending separation, the Lord appeals to their love, which they ought to have, but which, it seems, now gives no sound in their souls. The love of the apostles for Christ, if it were true love, would move them willingly to agree to a brief separation from Christ so as to give Him the opportunity to ascend to the Heavenly Father and receive the glory befitting Him: a lover always sacrifices his own interests for the benefit of the beloved. “The Father is greater than I.” Some of the Church Fathers and teachers (Sts. Cyril of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, Blessed Augustine) see in these words a comparison of the state of Christ as God-man with the glory in which God the Father continually dwells. The latter, from a human point of view, is of course higher than the state of the Son in His earthly life. Others, however (for example, Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, St. John of Damascus) see here an exposition of the thought about the origin of the Son from the Father, who is “the cause and source of Him who is born from Him.” The second interpretation is inappropriate here, because in that case Christ’s words cease to indicate the reason why the disciples should rejoice at the removal of Christ to the Father: if the Son is always less than the Father, what significance then does it have that He goes to the Father? Is it not all the same – He remains lesser? (Silchenkov, p. 212). Thus one must accept the first interpretation. Indeed, the death of Christ is not only a sorrowful but also a joyful event, for it marks the beginning of the departure of Christ-God-man to God the Father and His complete glorification in His humanity (Znamensky, p. 318). The state of humiliation ends, and the state of glorification begins, and these are compared with each other not directly, but “through the comparison of the bearers of these states themselves” (Silchenkov, p. 212).

John 14:29. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe. John 14:30. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in Me. John 14:31. But that the world may know that I love the Father and do as the Father has commanded Me: rise, let us go from here. All that has been said thus far to the disciples was directed to give them support to endure the severe trials that await them. Let them then recall what the Lord said to them: these trials will not seem especially heavy to them, because the Lord had already prepared the disciples for them. The Lord could speak further with them, but time does not permit. The ruler of this sinful and hostile world – Satan – comes in the person of the traitor, leading with him a band of soldiers (cf. John 13:2). Since this word could further increase the fear of the disciples, the Lord, to comfort them, says that Satan, who has such great power over the world, has no power over Him: in Christ there is no foothold for the actions of Satan – there is no sin. The Lord could drive Satan from Him, but He does not wish to do so. Out of love for the Father, whose will is that Christ die for mankind, He Himself goes to meet the ruler of death, who brings death even to Him. “Rise, let us go from here.” This is merely an invitation, to which the disciples apparently did not respond with assent and remained in their places. To suppose (as Bishop Michael does) that the following discourse was spoken on the road has no basis; on the contrary, the departure from the upper room is mentioned only in John 18:1. Therefore the Lord again began to comfort the disciples, rousing courage in them.